Excitement is had by all...

I'm getting really anxious about Taylor coming tomorrow. She's coming to pick up her little girl, Lilah. She's also wanting to talk about a few things and see the glider room, so it should be a blast! Now I have to make sure everything's in order and ready by the time she gets here.

I always get really anxious when glider people come over. It's not like I'm nervous or anything -- I've met up with Taylor two other times -- I guess it's just something I do. I also go into super cleaning mode and try to make sure everything looks good and not creepy. I'm sure I over clean everything.

Mission successful with introducing baby chick, Mabel, back with her siblings. She and the other little chick got along just fine last night and went back with their siblings without a hinge. I was worried they would all pick on her, but it was like she never left.

I don't think I mentioned that we ordered some fleece from Joann.com the other day. One of the prints and solid is for a custom order, but the other print is all ours. Our gliders need new cage sets anyway, plus we have a big yard of purple fleece just sitting around collecting dust. It's been forever since we've had matching cage sets with Glider Buckets! I can't wait to start sewing!

Oh yeah, a couple of the hens are starting to lay again. They pretty much stopped over the winter -- definitely not normal to stop completely, I'm sure the dog attack had something to do with it -- but they're starting up again. I'm pretty sure it's Ash and Camille that are laying. One egg is really tiny, while the other is really large and brown. Oh how I've missed farm fresh eggs!

Love & Peace

-Megan

 The orange and owls are for the custom order, the other is for us. 

See, eggs! :)

Contentment is a four letter word...

And that word is, F.E.A.R.. Seriously though, my aunt is just the coolest person alive right now. She ordered not only F.E.A.R., but F.E.A.R. 2 on 360 for us! She knows how much I -- and LaVaughn -- love horror games, she's just never been able to figure out which ones are the good ones or which ones we already owned. I mentioned those games a couple weeks ago and apparently she remember which ones they were. They came from the most beautiful place known to man - Gamestop.

She's just the best. See, I don't need diamonds to make me happy. Buy me a game, I'll love you forever. I ordered a couple things my aunt really wants to return the favor. More about those when they arrive.

In other news, Emilie and Sally really seem to be settling into their new home. Since they're still in the bathroom -- the can escape through their cage bars, so they must stay closed in the bathroom in case they escape -- they get to free roam. We leave their cage doors open to that they can come and go as they please. They're finally starting to leave the cage and walk around on the top of it. They're still not brave enough to walk on the floor unless we're in there with them.

With their cage being in the bathroom, it's boosted Emilie's confidence  She's always been so shy and standoffish, but now she jumps off the cage onto us as much as she can. I've never seen rats love shoulders as much as these two! Evan and Jonah would climb on us, but never fight their way to our shoulders.

In other, slightly more exciting news, our little chick -- who were still calling Mabel -- gets to move back in with her siblings tomorrow! I moved one of the other chicks in with her a little while ago so that they can get used to each other. Then both chicks will be moved back in with the rest of the flock tomorrow.

My aunt told us to put one of the other chicks in with her before we just put her back in with the gen pop. We don't want them all ganging up on her, considering they're not used to her anymore. I just hope it all goes as easy as we think it will.

The gliders are being spoiled beyond their wildest dreams lately. As soon as we get up, we stuff their faces with mealies and then give them a yoggie for dessert. They're all getting used to it now and are starting to expect it. Such little divas. They're definitely a demanding pet. They're not thankful, for things, they're like, "Give me what I want and I'll go away.".

I believe that's a wrap for me. I'm dying to try F.E.A.R. :)

Love & Peace

-Megan

The Ratties New Digs

The Gliders

The Baby Chick

The good, the bad and the terrible...

The Good,

Our little chick is doing great! Force feeding her really gave her the boost she needed to get back on her feet. She walks around an eats constantly now. With us spending so much time with her, it's created this very lovely bond. More so with my sister, but that's okay with me. She runs to LaVaughn and jumps in her hand or on her leg. She'll sit on me from time to time, but never for very long.

We got her out of her box last night and let her walk around the floor. Our mealie cup was sitting off to the side, but close enough for her to see. As soon as she noticed the worms inside, she took off! she ran straight up to the cup and started trying to peck the worms -- she couldn't get them because they were covered, but the entire container is clear. We decided to let her try one and she loved it! We ended up giving her 3 or 4 before we had to stop, which I know isn't good for her, but come on, she's been sick!

And by the way, I'm not sure that Mabel is a fitting name for our chick. She's absolutely deserving of the name, but it just doesn't fit her. For now, that will be her nickname, but we'll find something more permanent down the road.

The Bad,

This is kind of good and bad, but mostly bad. We were FINALLY able to get the rattie girls moved into their much larger cage. Not the huge cage that we got from Stacie, but the slightly smaller one we had Evan and Jonah in. We ended up taking one layer out and just leaving the two. We added a long hammock in the place of the other layer and it looks SO much better! It just seemed too cramped with all three. 

After it was nicely decorated, we added the girls! They walked around the bottom for probably 30 minutes before they explored the other levels. On the very top layer, we have one of our short Glider Buckets hanging. After we showed them that they could sleep in it, they never wanted to leave! After two days they still don't want to leave! 

They're so terrified of their new cage, they never want to come out! I feel so bad for them, because I know how creepy new surroundings can be. Part of me wants to put them back in their old cage for a while, but I just don't know! They're very rarely out of their bucket anymore. It's only been a day and a half, so hopefully they'll start to come around more.

The Terrible,

As you know, Sadie has two joeys IP. One large joey that's just weeks away from being OOP and one very small joey that wont be OOP until next month. Well Monday night when I was int he glider room, I looked over at where Sadie was sleeping and noticed the pouch was moving a lot. Not thinking much of it, I turned the lights on and left.

I went back in the glider room later that night (around 1ish) and noticed that Sadie was out running around the cage. I automatically got a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and very nervously walked towards the cage. I stuck my fingers through the bar and rubber her tummy. The gut wrenching feeling was confirmed when I didn't feel her larger joey. I pulled the pouch out of the cage, only to find a half eaten joey carcass. 

I was filled with so much anger and heartache, I didn't even want to look at Sadie. I pulled her on out of the pouch and felt around. To my surprise, she still had the smaller joey! I returned her to her cage and broke the news to LaVaughn. She kept telling me that it happened for a reason, which I figured, but it still didn't help.

I know gliders will cannibalize their joeys when they're sick, or possibly already dead. It's just so hard for us soft humans to understand. I'm better now, I've put it behind me. It's still very sad and upsetting, but that's just the way things are sometimes.

Love & Peace

-Megan

I'll leave you with some pictures of the baby chick:

I think I will call you... Mabel!

Believe it or not, our little chick is still alive! Around 1 in the Am, LaVaughn and I decided to start force feeding. We had just been dipping the tip of her beak in the water and gruel, but that wasn't doing much for her. After I read online that you actually can force feed, it was on!

We sat with her for over 40 minutes trying to get her to eat. We would alternate soggy bread and her chick feed gruel. We got a really decent amount down her and decided to leave her alone for a while. An hour passed, then we decided to start again.

The second time around, she seemed to actually have some energy and was even starting to peck around at food on the floor! We were ecstatic, but still wanted to hand feed her. We didn't do it as long this time, but still managed to get a decent amount of food down her. We were also making sure she would drink in between if possible.

We fed her once more before we decided to bed down for the night.

When I woke up today, I was scared to walk in the room in fear of her being sicker or worse. As soon as I opened the bedroom door, I was greeted with lots of chirping! I walked over to her box, only to find her walking around and eating! I couldn't believe it was the same chick! Just last night, she couldn't even stand on her one, let alone eat on her own! I offered her some water and she ran up to it and started drinking!

I sat with her for a while and watched her. She walked around, ate and even went to the bathroom like a normal little chick. She's still weak and wobbly, but there's been such an improvement (knock wood). I just hope that she continues to progress and only gets better from here.

This is where the name, Mabel, comes in. That was my grams name and she was one of the toughest ladies I had ever met. She was always such a fighter and never had the will to give in. She had a lot of ailments towards the in, but never let that slow her down. I think Mabel is actually the perfect name for this little chick...

Love & Peace

-Megan